Invisible Touch

Invisible Touch

Chapter 5 ~ The Big Game

Ernie was a boy with a dilemma. On the one hand, he was having these dreams, which became more and more disruptive as he grew older. On the other hand, these dreams were some kind of window into the future of the people who appeared in them.

He was actually capable of seeing the future. There was no denying this, he knew. He could see when someone was going to become ill. He could see when someone was going to find money. He had even seen the outcome of a football game before it was played.

Ernie wasn't much of a fan, but this was a big deal. The city's Central High School football team had won their regional division in regular season play. They had then swept through a tournament of division winners in the southern half of the state. This meant that they would next play the northern champion, Indigo Falls, to determine the state champion.

Many of the boys in Ernie's eighth grade class had hopes of someday being members of the Central team. Next year, as freshmen, they could try out for the team, but the competition was fierce. The following year they might have a better chance. But the dream was alive already in some of Ernie's friends.

Ernie was walking home from school with his friend Doug, who lived just a block away from him. Doug was one of the football wanna-bes. The boys' route took them right by Central High's practice field. The big game was a week and a half away and there was a practice taking place.

"Hey, let's stop and watch," suggested Doug.

"OK, just for a little while," replied Ernie. "I haven't finished my social studies paper yet, and it's due tomorrow in 2nd period."

"Finished?" Doug said. "I haven't even started mine."

They stood by a fence where there was already a sizable group of spectators. Many of the kids who were watching wore green and yellow shirts with the white "G" that revealed their own even bigger gridiron dreams.

"Hey, Bobby," shouted one of the littlest kids, standing next to Ernie. "Good luck in the big game!"

Bobby Newman was the first string quarter of the team and an all around good guy. A real student athlete, he was hoping football would be his ticket to a college football scholarship. And not to a Big Ten school, to the dismay of his coach, a former quarterback for the Wisconsin Badgers and a Heisman Trophy runner-up. No, Bobby hoped for a ticket to the Ivy League, where he would fulfill his athletic commitments but make the best of a top-flight educational institution at the same time.

And Bobby was a nice kid. He had just taken a water break and was signing a few autographs. To the youngest kids in this crowd, that was a big treat.

"Make sure you get your homework done," he'd tell them. It was his version of the common yet trite "stay in school" line.

He approached the little boy next to Ernie. "What's your name," he asked.

You would have thought the boy was standing next to Brett Favre. He went and hid behind his father's legs.

"It's OK," his dad told him.

"My name's Bobby," he said, peeking out from behind his dad.

"Hey, that's my name, too," the older Bobby replied. "Do you like to read?" he asked the younger boy.

"Ah huh," he nodded.

"So do I," agreed the quarterback. "Reading and school work and when that's done, I like football, too," he said. "Do you like football?"

"Ah huh," the little boy said with a smile.

The boy's father lifted him up and the Bobbys shook hands. Doug reached over for a high five. Bobby returned the gesture and offered Ernie a high five as well. As their hands touched, Ernie had a sudden rush of warmth, like a static electric shock. This was something strange, he thought -- it had never happened before.

"Good luck, guys," Ernie felt like saying, as Bobby Newman returned to his team.

Ernie looked at Doug. "You heard what he said. 'Make sure you get your homework done,'" he jeered. "I really have to get home. And you should, too."

"OK, Mom," Doug said to Ernie, and then felt terrible at what had just come out of his mouth. "Oh my gosh, Ernie. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..."

"Douggy, don't worry about it," Ernie reassured him. "That was a long time ago. People don't have to spend their whole life avoiding the word 'mom' or 'mother' when they're around me."

Doug was relieved he hadn't hurt Ernie's feelings. He really valued their friendship. The feeling was mutual.

They started the short walk for home.

"See you tomorrow," Doug said in parting.

"See you," Ernie replied. "And Doug..." Ernie paused. "Make sure you get your homework done," Ernie said with a smile.

"Yes, teacher," came the reply, and they both laughed as they went their separate ways home.

Ernie had a quick snack before he sat down to do his home work. He craved bananas. He must be part monkey, he thought. Sweets didn't interest him, and even some fruits were just too much. But bananas, he couldn't get enough of them. He slid another into his pocket as he headed for his room.

"Not with that banana, you don't," came a voice from the living room. How did she know? "And not without a hug for your Gramma," she added.

"And me, too," came the voice of his grandfather.

He smiled as he entered the living room and then gave each of them a big hug as they sat in their favorite chairs.

"You just make sure that banana peel gets back in the kitchen garbage," Gramma warned. "Or you'll end up with fruit flies in your room."

"Oh, that's all we need," mused Grampa.

These were the sweetest people on earth, Ernie felt. They had raised him from the day he was born. They had raised him as if he was their very own child. He felt so lucky that they would give up their years of retirement and leisure to be his surrogate parents. From the stories they told him about his mom, he knew they were raising him in the very same way they had raised her. That made him proud somehow. He felt this great honor to be following in her footsteps, that he should try and be everything she was trying to be. And it made him want to achieve in school the way they told him his mother always had.

He gave them each another hug and started toward his room.

"Oh, Ernie," his grandfather called to him. "Doug called just before you got home. He left a message; he said, 'Make...'"

"Make sure you get your homework done," Ernie said with a giggle as he left the room.

"He's a regular Kreskin," John chuckled.

Betty just laughed.

Before he sat down to work, Ernie made an entry in his private journal.

"The strangest thing happened today. Doug and I stopped to watch the high school football practice on the way home from school. The quarterback of the team came over our way to talk to a little boy and I high fived him. I don't know what I was thinking. I've been trying so hard to avoid touching anybody, and that does seem to reduce the amount of vivid dreaming I have. I can handle the foggy color kind of dreams, and they don't seem to cloud my vision as much.

"I don't want to have to avoid people, but the closer they are to me, the stronger the vision is. I just have to be careful not to touch people, and I should have been more careful today. I can predict that in the future, tomorrow, I'm going to have a dream in class because of this and I'm going to end up in trouble. I have to be more careful.

"And one more thing. Why don't I ever have dreams about Gramma and Grampa? Is it because they're family? Is that why I don't have any dreams about my own future? I really wish I understood this. I wonder if Mom had these dreams. Or my father."

Ernie's worried prediction was wrong, and he was glad at that. He turned in his social studies project right on time and the rest of the day went by without incident.

His Thursday night ritual included a quick study of his vocabulary words for the weekly Friday quiz. Tonight was no exception. He went through the list backwards and forwards. He hadn't missed a single word yet in the nearly three months of spelling and vocabulary quizzes. He was putting more pressure on himself than he needed to, but a perfect record was hard not to try and achieve.

One more time and he'd call it a night, he thought. He covered the words and looked at the column of definitions, so he could test himself on spelling. As he did this, he felt a wave of anxiety. This is how his dreams usually started during the day. He knew his vision would soon blur, so he put down his work and just sat there, waiting for it.

As the room around him began to blur, a somewhat face began coming into focus. It was Bobby Newman, he recognized -- the high school football quarterback. He had wondered when this dream would come. The high five at practice made it inevitable. But these thoughts weren't in his mind right now. He was unconsciously absorbed by the vision. Static filled his ears, but it wasn't just noise. He could hear cheering. People were all around him and there was smiling and laughter. This was a "pink dream" after all, and that was always a happy dream. And Bobby was surrounded by the pink hazy halo. The other people he saw were merely supporting actors in this movie he watched. One of them was the football coach, who lifted up a trophy. Somebody else placed a white baseball cap on Bobby's head. And there was a banner hanging behind all of them which read "Congratulations" and "State Champions" on it. The dream was over in a few minutes and Ernie's vision cleared.

It had finally happened, he thought. He had seen plenty of visions of the future before, but this was something that was going to matter to people. It made him anxious and apprehensive, as if he knew something he wasn't supposed to know. He didn't like this feeling at all.

There were plenty of things going on in the city this time of year. And ordinarily, there would be any number of things on anybody's list ahead of high school football. But this was the state championship and it was big news. No city team had ever won the title and the last time one came close was thirty-seven years ago when East High's team lost that final game in overtime. As for Central, this was the first year they'd ever won a post-season game, let alone played in the big game.

The high school teachers understood this. The middle school teachers even understood this. During lessons, of course, attention was absolutely required. But at other times, the kids spent a lot of time talking about the game when, maybe they should have been working on assignment. There was just a little bit of latitude given in this area.

"Do you think our guys can win?" said one eighth grader.

"You'd better believe it," answered another. "My big brother plays second string, and he says the team has never played better."

"Central's gonna get crushed," said a third. "It's just a fluke they're even in this game. No way they're going to beat Indigo Falls."

"Wanna make it interesting?"

"You mean a bet? You're on."

Ernie was standing nearby. "You want in?" he was asked.

"Oh no, not me," he answered.

"What, don't you think Central can win on Saturday?"

"I don't know about that," he lied. If anybody knew for sure, it was him. "Maybe they will, and maybe they won't. I just don't want to bet."

"Aww, come on. Just put in a buck. If Central wins, it'll come back to you with a friend."

Ernie didn't know what to do. What was so wrong with supporting the team against somebody who didn't? And he didn't want to look like a "goody two shoes." But he knew it was wrong to give in to peer pressure. More importantly, if his dream was for real, he knew it was doubly wrong to bet on the team he knew was going to win.

It was 9 AM on Saturday morning when Doug's parents drove up to pick up Ernie for the game. The game wouldn't start until one o'clock in the afternoon, but they left plenty of extra time. It would take just over an hour and a half to get there, and then they had to get tickets and find their seats. And who knows how long it might take to get around the state college campus.

As luck would have it, the drive didn't even take as long as they expected, and they found themselves right behind the Central High team school bus, decorated in blue, green and white. They followed the bus through campus, right to the field house. They parked the car and watched as the team bus unloaded. Ernie recognized Bobby Newman from the practice field a couple Wednesdays before. He wore a green cap with a bright blue "C" for Central -- the same cap the Central High baseball team wore.

"Good luck, guys," Doug shouted in their direction. Some of the players waved in thanks as others were busy helping with equipment.

Tickets were purchased, seats were located, and the game started promptly at one.

Ernie didn't know much about football, but he enjoyed the game. Indigo Falls scored first, a field goal. There was plenty of action, mostly defensive, and the scored remained 3-0 for the rest of the first quarter. The teams traded touchdowns in the second quarter, but Central missed their extra point attempt. At the end of the half, the score was Indigo Falls 10, Central 6.

All this action made Ernie hungry. He ate two hot dogs at half time and bought a Pepsi, which he was still drinking when the second half of the game began.

Indigo Falls dominated the third quarter, but a missed field goal prevented them from increasing their lead. After a punt by Central, Indigo Falls had the ball again. At the end of the quarter, they were marching down the field. A few minutes into the fourth quarter, the I.F. quarterback threw a pass that was intercepted by one of Central's linebackers. He ran half way down the field before one of Indigo's running backs managed to grab his jersey and pull him down. It was Central's turn to try and even things up. Five running plays in a row were bring them closer to the goal line, but the clock was running. On the next play, quarterback Bobby Newman threw a touchdown pass and the extra point made the score 13-10 in Central's favor.

Now Central's fans were wishing the clock would run even faster than it had been. But it seemed to last forever as Indigo Falls made pass after pass after pass. With a minute left, it seemed as if they would be able to tie it up with a field goal. Two more running plays brought them close enough to try it, and just seconds remained on the clock. The kick was up, and it was good. Tie game.

Overtime would be an entire ten minute period, and Central's players didn't look like they had much gas left in them.

But there were still ten seconds left on the clock and the ball was on the Central 40 yard line after a bad kickoff. Bobby Newman looked over at his bench and thought his best chance was to try something big. There is no such thing as a poker face on a high school athlete, and the whole Indigo Falls team knew what was coming. They blitzed from all sides as he dropped back to pass. But instead he pitched the ball to the running back on his right. Bobby managed to avoid being crushed and watched as his teammate threw the ball downfield to a waiting receiver. He caught the ball and ran for all he was worth into the end zone. Time had already run out during the play and the final score was Central 16, Indigo Falls 13.

Central's fans went wild with the exciting play and the realization that they'd won the state championship. The jubilant celebration continued as fans made their way to the parking lot.

The hoots and hollers were increased as Central's victorious team emerged from the field house to board their yellow bus, which had been re-decorated with soapy letters spelling "State Champs."

And those were the same words that decorated the brand new white baseball caps that each member of the team was wearing as he boarded the bus for home.

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